Leftovers have never looked this good

We're getting new counter tops, which has been a long time coming. Having owned our 1950's style rambler for over 10 years we've been strategic about the changes we've made, responsibly factoring our home value against improvements we'd like to make. There's the value of making our home the way we want it to be versus the realistic strategy of not wanting to put more money in than we'll recoup in any future sale. We've made a fair amount of changes in the time since we bought this place, including new windows (always a good investment) and a fabulously indulgent bathroom (more because we wanted it). As for the kitchen, we've always assumed we'd put on an addition, break down a wall or move our basement staircase to get the kitchen of our dreams. Because of this, the changes we've made have been fairly malleable. New appliances, a floating laminate floor, multiple color schemes, but nothing that can't be moved or changed (no ceramic tile). Finally, we were going to do it, take out a loan and get the kitchen we've always wanted. We had an architect friend over for dinner (as we do best) and started to dream. We got really excited, showing the plans to multiple friends and family, mulling over the options, and then we involved our contractor. After waiting a couple weeks his bid came in, and we could tell right away that he didn't think he'd ever do this job. It quickly and painfully became apparent that building our dream kitchen would not be prudent. You never want to have the nicest house in the neighborhood and the cost of this remodeling alone would price us out. We first went through denial ( He must have misunderstood, did he price out high-end materials?), then bargaining (another bid?) and then began the process of acceptance, otherwise known in my industry as radical acceptance, the time to stop fighting reality and to take stock of our options. Basically, in order to have the kitchen we really want, we'd have to move. We don't want to move.

We now realize we'll have to make do with what we have, make smaller, less expensive changes that will have impact so we will both enjoy our time here and potentially add value for potential future buyers. So tomorrow we are replacing our counter tops, currently a dark brown laminate mimicking butcher block, with a lighter colored corian. Along with the new counter will be a new sink, so we needed to be able to disconnect all the plumbing prior to installation. Enter the Chateaubriand (read about it a couple posts ago). If you cook something really good, they will come. In this case, a close friend of ours who has plumbing talents. Tempted by the smell of charred beef, he was here, ready to put in cut-off valves so we can disconnect the plumbing with ease. This post is the follow-up, the leftovers. Our plumber talented friend actually indulged in this as well, as he busted a valve the night before...

This time the leftovers were made into a fabulous...look at the picture and read...fabulous, sandwich. Alphachef stopped at our local Byerly's on the way home from work and bought some pretzel rolls, fresh tomatoes (unbelievably good when considering it's still winter) and horseradish. He cut the rolls and layered red lettuce, tomato, slices of the beef tenderloin aka Chateaubriand, the herbed butter from the night before, some red onions, leftover soft brie (see the Antipasto post), topped with a spicy horseradish. So it is just a sandwich, but the motive of this post is tempting you into revisiting the beef tenderloin you wanted to make after reading the post but haven't gotten around to just so you can make this sandwich. There. The sandwich was almost better than the original dish- how often does that happen? Still not planning on the tenderloin? Then let this post inspire you to rethink leftovers and how good they can be with a bit of creativity. How often do you simply throw the leftovers in the microwave to heat up, while contemplating just tossing them and ordering a pizza? Generally guilt kicks in and you eat the "good enough" food. So get out of that rut and start thinking about what else the dish could be. Have some chicken? Add pasta or make a soup (just add it to canned soup- now even you can do that). That burrito/enchilada dish thing? Add an egg for a breakfast dish. Salads are also a nice options, anything can be placed over lettuce as are sandwiches. To kick your day after sandwich up a notch, buy a nice roll and some new condiments. Rainbow and Cub sell "bolero" rolls for less than a dollar each, and make a sandwich feel like something you stopped for on the way home. The point is, it just takes a little imagination and re-thinking the dish to go from uggg, leftovers, to ohhh, an opportunity.